Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) filed
a notice of exemption under 49 C.F.R. § 1152 Subpart F–Exempt
Abandonments to abandon a 0.8-mile line of railroad, on the Yakima
Industrial Lead, from milepost 62.75 to milepost 63.55 near Midvale, in Yakima
County, Wash.[1]The line traverses United States Postal Service
Zip Code 98930.

UP has certified that:(1) no local traffic has moved over the line
for at least 2 years; (2) there is no overhead traffic on the line; (3) no
formal complaint filed by a user of rail service on the line (or filed by a
state or local government entity acting on behalf of such user) regarding
cessation of service over the line either is pending with the Board or with any
U.S. District Court or has been decided in favor of complainant within the
2-year period; and (4) the requirements at 49 C.F.R. § 1105.7 (environmental
report), 49 C.F.R. § 1105.8 (historic report), 49 C.F.R. § 1105.11
(transmittal letter), 49 C.F.R. § 1105.12 (newspaper publication),
and 49 C.F.R. § 1152.50(d)(1) (notice to governmental agencies) have been met.

In its notice, UP states that it
granted the Washington Central Railroad Company (WC) local trackage rights over
the line.With UP’s concurrence, WC sold
the trackage rights it had over the line to BNSF Railway Company (BNSF).BNSF, in turn, assigned these rights to the
Central Washington Railroad Company (CWRR).SeeCentral Wash. R.R.—Lease and Operation Exemption—BNSF
Railway Co., Docket No. FD 34640 (STB
served Jan. 21, 2005).UP states that it expects that BNSF and CWRR will make a separate
filing with the Board to discontinue applicable trackage rights over the line.In light of the existing trackage rights, it
would be premature for UP to consummate the abandonment while the trackage
rights remain in effect.

As a condition to this exemption, any
employee adversely affected by the abandonment shall be protected under Oregon
Short Line Railroad–Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth &
Ammon, in Bingham & Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91
(1979).To address whether this condition
adequately protects affected employees, a petition for partial revocation under
49 U.S.C. § 10502(d) must be filed.

Provided no
formal expression of intent to file an offer of financial assistance (OFA) has
been received, this exemption will be effective on or after July 22, 2010,
unless stayed pending reconsideration.Petitions to stay that do not involve environmental issues,[2]
formal expressions of intent to file an OFA under 49 C.F.R.
§ 1152.27(c)(2),[3]
and trail use/rail banking requests under 49 C.F.R. § 1152.29 must be filed by July 2, 2010.Petitions to reopen or requests for public
use conditions under 49 C.F.R. § 1152.28 must be filed by July 12, 2010,
with:Surface Transportation Board,
395 E Street, S.W., Washington,
DC20423-0001.

A copy of
any petition filed with the Board should be sent to UP’s representative:Mack H. Shumate, Jr., Senior General
Attorney, 101 North Wacker Drive, Suite 1920, Chicago, IL60606.

If the
verified notice contains false or misleading information, the exemption is void
abinitio.

UP has filed
a combined environmental and historic report which addresses the effects, if
any, of the abandonment on the environment and historic resources.SEA will issue an environmental assessment
(EA) by June 25, 2010.Interested
persons may obtain a copy of the EA by writing to SEA (Room 1100, Surface
Transportation Board, Washington,
DC20423-0001) or by calling SEA, at (202)
245-0305.Assistance for the hearing
impaired is available through the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1‑800-877-8339.Comments on environmental and historic
preservation matters must be filed within 15 days after the EA becomes
available to the public.

Environmental,
historic preservation, public use, or trail use/rail banking conditions will be
imposed, where appropriate, in a subsequent decision.

Pursuant to
the provisions of 49 C.F.R. § 1152.29(e)(2), UP shall file a notice of
consummation with the Board to signify that it has exercised the authority
granted and fully abandoned the line.If
consummation has not been effected by UP’s filing of a notice of consummation
by June 22, 2011, and there are no legal or regulatory barriers to
consummation, the authority to abandon will automatically expire.

Board
decisions and notices are available on our website at “WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.”

Decided:June 17, 2010.

By the Board, Rachel D. Campbell,
Director, Office of Proceedings.

[1]The notice of
exemption was filed on June 2, 2010 and supplemented on June 4, 2010
by the inclusion of “Attachment 1” to Exhibit 2.

[2]The Board will
grant a stay if an informed decision on environmental issues (whether raised by
a party or by the Board’s Section of Environmental Analysis (SEA) in its
independent investigation) cannot be made before the exemption’s effective
date.SeeExemption of
Out-of-Service Rail Lines et al., 5 I.C.C.2d 377 (1989).Any request for a stay should be filed as
soon as possible so that the Board may take appropriate action before the
exemption’s effective date.

[3]Each OFAmust be accompanied by the
filing fee, which currently is set at $1,500.See 49 C.F.R. § 1002.2(f)(25).